Porto Venere, Italy - Congratulations are in full order for Edoardo Lupi and Massimo Pessina — owners of Torpyone — now crowned the ‘King of Poets’. Together they have conquered the eighteen-strong fleet in Porto Venere, the second stage of the 2015 Audi-Tron Sailing Series. Alongside of Lupi and Messina was the impeccable Lorenzo ‘Rufo’ Bressani as tactician, and crew members Flavio Favini, Carlo Zermini, Lorenzo Lupi (son of Edoardo) Matteo Mason and Stefano Ciampalini.

"Our second place finish at the World Championship in Miami was our best result ever — until now," commented Lupi. "In Loano, we did not have such a great performance, but this makes up for it for sure. We now feel very happy and it puts us in a great position as we look ahead to the World Championship in Trapani."

"For Lupi di Mare, this is a moment of great joy. Without a doubt, we give thanks to Rufo as he was the one that put us in all the right places, which ultimately brought us to the top of the podium," said Messina. "His spirit was infectious and this carried through to the whole team, which was a key to our success this weekend."

Only one last race, race number six was held under moderate, yet shifty and tricky breeze. Andrea LaCorte’s Vitamina/Celadrin team got off to an awesome start to lead the fleet around the first two buoys, but it was Lupi/Messina that picked up on the fresh left-side pressure giving him the winning advantage after the course was shortened. Dalton DeVos’ Delta finished second, followed by Roberto Tomasini Grinover’s Robertissima in third.

Finishing second on the podium was overnight leader Giangiacomo Serena di Lapigio helming G-SPOT, by far making this his best finish ever in the class. The young American DeVos, thanks to a second-place result in the final race stands third. Tomasini Grinover came fourth, and Valentin Zavadnikov’s Synergy GT was fifth.

RENDEZVOUS ET RIVA DEL GARDA, PORTO ERCOLE & WORLDSThe next event in Europe is at the beautiful location of Riva Del Garda on June 5-7, then onto Porto Ercole on July 10-12 as a final warm-up and opportunity to fine tune the boat and crew for top-notch Worlds competition. The World Championship will take place on August 26-30 in Trapani — a venue famous for exquisite surroundings and sheer racing elegance.

In addition to main sponsor Audi, the Audi-Tron Sailing Series is supported by official sponsors Kuehne+Nagel, Technical Partners Torqeedo, Caffe Vergnano, Bavaria, Usail, Nuova Jolly and The Suite Club.